For many years, crab meat has been enjoyed by many types of people when the crab meat has been prepared in various ways such as by cracking and picking the shell of steamed crabs. The preparation of crab meat commercially also has been engaged in for many years by professional pickers, who develop a skill for removing the two back fin lumps of crab meat which are connected to the two swimming legs of the crab, said lumps, when removed with care, being more highly prized by fanciers of crab meat than the smaller pieces of white meat of the crab connected to the legs and other body members. Further, such so-called "lump crab meat" commands a much higher price when sold commercially than smaller pieces of crab meat, as well as the meat removed from the legs of the crab. Actually, all parts of the edible meat of a cooked crab have substantially the same taste irrespective of that part of the body from which the crab meat is obtained.
It also has come to the applicant's attention that quite recently, a process and machine has been developed by which substantially all of the crab meat may be removed from the shell but incident to this being accomplished, the choice and preferable large lumps are disintegrated into much smaller particles, thereby reducing the value of the product as compared with that of so-called commercial lump crab meat. This situation, however, has given impetus to the present invention, which is concerned with the forming of so-called smaller particles of crab meat into configurations of compressed and congealed crab meat in the form of commercial lumps thereof, as described in detail hereinafter. Conditioning the crab meat for the molding thereof is the subject matter of a contemplated application covering the development of another inventor and converting the particles of crab meat into a condition susceptible of being congealed and molded into lumps closely resembling commercial lump crab meat.
The forming of various types of food particles, especially meat, into desired form, is the subject matter of a number of prior patents, covering both procedures and mechanism. For example, it is quite common to mold ground meat into forms of patties or other configurations as described and illustrated in prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,324,202 to Felton et al, dated July 13, 1943; 2,670,296 to Tansley, dated Feb. 23, 1954; and 4,068,008 to Orchard, dated Jan. 10, 1978. In these patents, the ground meat material is extruded by power means into certain shapes susceptible of being sliced or otherwise separated from a mass to form individual patties or other shapes of meat products.
It also is known to process and operate upon various types of fish products, including shrimp and other types of fish. For example, in prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,555,232 to Juice et al, dated May 29, 1951 and 4,092,435 to Teijeiro, dated May 30, 1978, it is seen that in the first of these patents, it is proposed to add certain chemicals to shrimp meat to act as a preservative, the shrimp material then being cooked and molded and either frozen or canned. In Teijeiro, it is proposed to mix peeled and decapitated small shrimp with certain types of chemicals and/or preservatives and then either flaking, blending or extruding the shrimp material, followed by either buttering or breading the same and partially frying and quick freezing or boiling and quick freezing, with no binder or filler added.
Still another prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,505 to Rubin, dated Dec. 3, 1974, discloses a process for preparing molded shrimp from very small shrimp, either with or without fragments of larger shrimp and subjecting this material to various temperatures and then extruding the same through very small apertures and subsequently molding the extruded material, followed by subjecting the same to relatively low temperatures and very low temperatures to produce a molded form resembling natural shrimp in appearance.
One other prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,230,579 to Johnston, dated Jan. 25, 1966, pertains to molding pieces of fish into desirably molded formations such as small steaks.
One further prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,017 to Yueh, dated Jan. 28, 1975, discloses a method for preparing shellfish, such as shrimp and lobsters, by breaking up the fish into individual fibers to produce heat-set fibers, cominuting the uncooked fish to form a heat-coagulable paste, mixing said heatset fibers and paste in a desired molded shape, resembling a lobster tail or a natural shrimp.
The present invention differs from the mechanism and procedures described and illustrated in the aforementioned patents and includes mechanism by which particles of crab meat previously cooked in certain ways are formed into shapes closely resembling commercial lump crab meat, and in which the lumps are stable, moist and have a true flavor of natural crab meat, details of the equipment used being set forth hereinafter.